What I shall not do at Hogwarts
by Slytherin Cat
Summary: This story is based on the "493 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts". In which Harry plots, in which Luna will plot, in which Hermione tries to reason her best friend and in which Weasleys laugh. A bad year for the teachers at Hogwarts. And for the first years. AU, OOC.
1. Rule 31

_Rule 31. I do not have a Dalek Patronus._

"Mr. Potter, may I ask what you are doing?"

"I think you already did, Mrs. McGonagall" Harry answered cheekily. At the no nonsense look she sent him, he pouted. "You're no fun, Madam!"

She arched an eyebrow. "Excuse me? What did you just say Mr. Potter?"

"I was saying that I would gladly answer you"

"That's better. So, what were you doing?"

Harry was trapped. How was he going to explain what he was doing at three o'clock in the morning wandering through the castle, clearly not asleep as he should be. He had a reason, and a very good one at that. But would his Transfiguration teacher understand it?

Seeing she was growing impatient, he prayed to every god that was that he wouldn't get punished for this.

"Well, you see, Madam, it has everything to do with Voldemort… Come on, not you too? It's just a name, really!"

"I think being sleep-deprived had a disastrous impact on your brain filter, Mr. Potter. If you do not give me an iron-clad reason, I'm afraid you will be in detention for a very very long time…"

"Hum, yeah… So Voldemort. You see, I'm sure he'll try to recruit the Dementors, if they're not already his. And they're my worst fear, so I know he will use them against me. I have Prongs to protect me, that's my Patronus by the way, but I would like something he little more offensive you know. Something that would scare Dementors would be perfect. And then I thought: What could scare Dementors away when they create fear?" He paused for dramatic effect.

After all, it was in the middle of the night, he could be allowed his fun!

"And how did that question led you to wander through the school's corridors at three in the morning exactly?"

"That's the tricky part. Here I was, trying to find something that could scare the Dementors, when I thought that maybe it wasn't even possible to change a Patronus' form. I do not have any books with information on that spell, so I decided to go search for a book. But by then it was already the night…"

"And you could not wait until tomorrow? Well, until today?" Was it him, or had she softened a little?

"You know me Professor, when I have an idea, I've got to take care of it."

"So that's what led you to be out at three?"

"Not exactly." As he said this Harry realized that he had just let pass a formidable opportunity to get away with his latest disregard for the rules as the teacher's glare hardened once again and she gestured for him to keep talking.

"I found the book, and it says that a Patronus can change, but only if the person go through a strong internal personality change. And anyway there was next to no chance that I could see something that could scare Dementors as a protective figure. So that would not work. I went back on my first idea to find what could scare those creatures of nightmares, and the answer became evident! I had to use Daleks!"

"What are Daleks?" McGonagall asked, curious.

"You don't know Daleks? But what do they make you watch on… Forget that. Wizards don't know Doctor Who?" Harry put a horror-struck look on his face. "Anyway Daleks are really bad and if something can scare Dementors, it would be them." He didn't feel like explaining the series to someone who didn't know it. It was complicated enough when you watched it, but explaining that to someone… He shuddered.

"But then I thought that maybe the Room of Requirements could give me the answers I wanted. And I was right too! Look at that Professor! With it, I'm sure we can beat Old Snake face! _Expecto patronum_."

A Patronus erupted from Harry's wand, but instead of the usual stag came out…

"Is that a pepper pot?" The old witch exclaimed, bewildered.

Harry gave her a pitying look. "Of course not. It's a _Dalek_. D-A-L-E-K. Dalek. Da-lek"

"I understood the first time, _thank you_" She said, annoyed.

Harry went on as if she hadn't said anything. "Imagine if we taught this to every first year. An army of Daleks against the Dementors… I'm sure we'd win!"

He had a strange gleam in his eyes and McGonagall didn't like it one bit. It was probably better to put a stop to those ideas before they got out of control.

"Potter, detention. With Filch. For a week"

Harry shrugged. "Do you think I could teach him the Dalek's Patronus?"

"Two weeks Potter. Do not make me take points from my own house or you will regret it"

"I suppose I should go back to my bed then?"

"Yes, you suppose well"

Harry walked to the right end of the corridor.

"Mr. Potter, the Gryffindor's common room isn't in that direction…"

As he walked past her this time, she could swear she heard him mutter something about teaching the spell to his friends. She shuddered.


	2. Rule 42

**Rule 42. "42″ is not the answer to every question to the O.W.L.s.****  
**

It was mid-May and all the students at Hogwarts were stressed by the impending end of the year exams, the most stressed being the fifth and seventh years, who had crucial exams on which depended their future.

There were three kinds of students.

The first one was those who had already began to revise everything months ago (Hermione Granger being the most obvious one) but still stressed to forget something at the last minute and so spent every moment they had free to reread everything they had learnt again and again.

The second was those who really weren't worried about their exams and really preferred to spend their time outside, thriving in every small ray of sun and in the warmth unusually present for this time of the year, playing games and talking about everything but school. Ronald Weasley was one of those people. They would wait until the last moment to finally learn everything they could.

The third, and last, was the one of those who had learned their lessons lightly but seriously all year long, and now only had to revise a little. They knew they had done their best and would have no regrets if they failed a test, even if it wasn't in their plans. They had more free times and could spend it to do whatever they wanted. One such example was Harry Potter.

When he had learnt just how important it was to have good NEWTS, even for the Chosen One, Harry had decided that he would take this year seriously. After all, if he spent the year working, maybe he wouldn't have the time for any funny stuff and would finally have a normal year. To Hermione's greatest pride, he had at last decided to take his education seriously. Of course he wasn't about to become a genius like his bushy haired friend, but he refused to have regrets about his years at Hogwarts. He already had enough of those in his life.

Despite everything that had happened then because of Umbridge, the OWLS, Umbridge, the Ministry, Umbridge, Voldemort, Umbridge, Sirius, (oh, and had he mentioned Umbridge?) Harry had some fond memories of his fifth year. And since most of them were because of the DA and the fact that he had helped his friends to learn useful things, he had decided to help again the younger years, and especially the fifth who had their OWLS at the end of the month.

He had spent the year, helped mostly by Hermione and also by old members of the DA when they dropped by, giving them tips on how to learn, what was more important and showing them spells, like the Patronus who could give them bonus points. He had had much more fun with them than what he had experienced in his own fifth year, but maybe that was because the club was legal and there was no mental toad teacher after their hides.

But now, seeing them so worried about their marks when he was really sure they would all pass with honors, he couldn't help but feel his Marauders' inheritance awakening. He was almost sorry for the poor little students who would discover his new plan.

He summoned everyone in the Room of Requirements. After all, it was a very useful place for gathering several dozens of students at the same time. It could also be used as a room to simply relax in, something that was cruelly lacking at Hogwarts. Really, who had decreed that only the Prefects would have access to baths? It was just plain mean to tell everyone else that they would only have showers.

It could be used to play with friends, to meet with people from other Houses in secret… It was truly perfect.

However this day he would teach them something very different.

"Hello everyone! I see that you are all working by this fine day. How sad when the weather is so nice outside!" Harry cheerfully welcomed the younger students.

"We don't have the time. It's so hard with the exams so soon and all…" Harry wasn't able to notice who exactly said this as it was repeated by everyone from all sides. He waited for a while until they calmed down, but when he saw they weren't going to, he dropped the news he knew would make them react.

"If you want, I can tell you how to pass your OWLS."

"What do you mean, you can tell us how to pass them?" A young Hufflepuff witch asked.

"Exactly what I said. I can give you the answers you will need. With that, you'll no longer have to work as hard", Harry said amusedly.

He could see that they were interested, though some of the Slytherins and Ravenclaws didn't really look convinced.

"How can you know the answers?" That was one of the more skeptical ones.

"Don't you trust me?" Harry asked with a pout and twinkling eyes. He was having fun.

He couldn't answer no, because everyone knew that if he didn't trust the Gryffindor he wouldn't be here, but he couldn't say yes either for the opposite reason. And he knew it. So he didn't answer, and neither did the others.

"It's quite simple actually. All you have to say on every question, each time an examiner asks you something is 42." Harry was actually quite proud of this discovery. With this, he could keep them busy for a while. He'd mention to them that it wasn't true a few days before the beginning of the OWLS, but until then he would have fun watching them answering the teachers with 42 and watching the teachers perplexed about this new tendency.

"Why 42?", a timid Gryffindor asked.

"Because 42 is the answer of course! Now, go have fun with your friends!"

The puzzled young witches and wizards slowly exited the room. As they left, Harry added:

"And don't forget to tell everyone! And you could use some training, I'm sure the professors won't mind…"

Harry was left alone in the Room of Requirements, a diabolic smirk on his face.


	3. Rule 35

This can be considered as a sequel of Rule 31. The Dementors don't belong to me, no matter how much fun I have trying to off them :p Nor do The Lord of The Ring or Harry Potter (unfortunately).

**Rule 35. Any resemblance between Dementors and Nazghul is coincidental.**

"Professor McGonagall! Professor! Waiiit" The last word was lost as Harry tripped over his own unmade shoelace and fell on the Transfiguration Professor. Well, at least she would wait for him now.

Incredibly embarrassed, he got up quickly and then offered her his hand to help her off the ground and then picked up his bag.

"I'm incredibly sorry Professor, really I am. I hope I didn't hurt you" Harry's face became horrified. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No Mr. Potter, you did not hurt me. Though I dearly wish you would stop running in the corridors. If you tell me quickly what was so important for you to you tell me that you broke the school's rules – again – I will forget this ever happened." The cat animagus said this in the voice she usually reserved for the Weasley twins but had begun to associate with Harry Potter lately, meaning her half exasperated half admonishing tone.

"I have something to show you, it's really important. In fact, I'd rather we do this in your office because there's less chances to be overheard by the enemy.

_Oh dear_, thought Minerva immediately. The last time he had wanted to talk about something serious, he had ended up explaining the most absurd method to kill Dementors using pepper pots. What was he going to do now?

Checking nobody was here, she gave him a curt nod of the head and led them to her office, which was of course decorated with her House's colors, gold and red. She figured it would be better to hear what stupid idea he had gotten in his head now and now latter the reason for strange happenings in the school than knowing nothing.

Sitting in her favorite armchair, she gestured him to do the same on the opposite side of a small table. She ordered tea, though she had the feeling she would need more than tea by the time the black haired wizard left the room.

"So what is this important thing you wanted to talk about so badly?" She asked.

Instead of an answer, he opened the bag and retrieved an old and battered book from it. He then took two other from it and placed them on aside while he also took out a small file. Whatever it was that he wanted to talk about, he had done his research very thoroughly. Or gotten Mrs. Granger to do it for him. Somehow, that didn't reassure her at all. Even with Mrs. Granger's help, who knew what he could come up with?

"So… What is this?"

"This is the solution for the Dementors! After our last conversation, I talked with a few of my friends, and we realized that Patronuses had already been exploited and that another solution might be better. And then I remembered that book. I read it when I was little and I believe our answer is in it."

Not this again! It was proved that there was no way to destroy the Dementors. Why the boy was so obstinate with this she'd never know. And if it was a book from when he was little, then that meant it was a Muggle one. Why had he any hope that the Muggles would know how to deal with Dementors when they couldn't even see them? It was a folly!

"Listen, Mr. Potter. I thank you for all your… research, but I must tell you that whatever it says, there is no way for a wizard to kill a Dementor."

Somehow, when she had expected this to be disappointed, he was even more excited by what she said.

"Exactly! No _wizard_ can do it! There are these things in this book, information." he held his copy of The Lord of The Ring up and opened it to a marked page. "It talks about Nazghuls. And these Nazghuls are terrifying creatures wearing dark cloaks and bring despair. Does this description remind you of something? Because to me it sounds like a Dementor!" Harry added without waiting for an answer.

"It also says that no _man_ can kill one of them. No man! Again, this is a really strange coincidence, don't you think?"

She had to admit that it was, but that didn't mean anything. It was possible the author had simply had an extraordinary imagination. Plus, it was sort of logical for someone who created monsters to use scary things, and what was scarier than the attributes of a Dementor? Anyway she didn't even have the time to tell him that because he had already began to explain his plan.

"And at the end they manage to kill them, but it's a _woman _who does it. Which is why I think you should try to kill the Dementor! Well, you could ask others too, but I'm sure with your help we could get this rid of all those monstrous creatures. So what do you say?"

He was watching her so hopefully that's he almost felt bad doing this. Almost. But he had given her such a headache this year… And he had fallen on her too.

"One word, Mr. Potter. One word. Detention!"

This boy was going to be the death of her. She just knew it!


	4. Rule 69

This OS was written for the 493 Things I'm Not Allowed To Do At Hogwarts Challenge (Rule 69).

_Word count:_1491

**Rule 69: First-years should not be encouraged to befriend the Whomping Willow.**

The good thing with first years, thought Harry, was that they were very gullible. You could tell them almost anything, and if you said it well, with a charming smile and confidence, they would believe you.

The operation '42' had been a total success and he would probably always remember was the face McGonagall had made when she had realized every assignment she was correcting contained the same answer, and that the culprit behind all this was Harry.

He had had a few detentions over this but not as much as his professor thought he deserved because as Harry had carefully pointed out, it wasn't against the rules to advise younger students. Plus he knew she had a soft spot for him that allowed him to get away with more than other people could.

He knew he should feel bad about taking advantage of them, but they didn't seem to mind, and it had at least taught them one good thing, and that was to question everything someone said 'would benefit them'. And it wasn't like Harry had hurt them or anything. The most studious students had learned their lessons anyway, and the ones who hadn't just had to retake the exam.

And he always had a good reason for what he did. After all, Voldemort was waging war in the outside world, and while for now everyone was protected in Hogwarts, he knew that it wouldn't last and that one day, unless he managed to find a way to stop the Dark Lord, Hogwarts would fall. The first years were young, and still naïve. They couldn't lose that innocence, and so Harry had found that playing pranks worked quite well to distract them. He knew it was the only reason he hadn't been expelled yet. Well, that and the fact that Dumbledore liked troublemakers a bit too much, that expelling him actually meant killing their only chance not to lose the war and that the teachers liked the fact that he tried to distract everyone from the happenings of the outside world.

It had now however been a couple weeks since he had last done something in Hogwarts, and he could feel everyone growing restless in the old castle turned school. It was high time he did something else, but the question was what.

The answer didn't come from the books he consulted, nor from the helpful – or rather unhelpful – advice of Luna, who told him that he could make everyone try to find Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, because then there was a higher chance to actually discover the mythical animal, and also because her father offered a year subscription to anyone who could bring him proof of a sighting of the creature.

No, instead it came to him when he saw a hushed group of first years in Gryffindor Tower, trying to avoid him – ever since his advice for the exams, they seemed to think it better not to talk to him and pretend he wasn't there whenever they were in the same room. Harry didn't understand why that was, but he suspected it had something with the campaign against him Hermione had launched as soon as she learned he had been the one responsible for the first years' failed exams.

Perhaps he should try to get her to loosen up a bit too…

Anyway, the fact was that the solution to his boredom problem came from the people who were trying to avoid him. It reminded him of how he, Ron and Hermione used to always get involved in whatever fishy stuff was happening in Hogwarts every year. For a school, and the supposed safest place in the magical world, Hogwarts sure had known quite a few accidents over the last years.

The group saw him watching them, and before he knew exactly how or what had happened, Harry realized everyone had left the Common Room. It didn't take long to find them again – it was safer, after all if someone was there to protect them and knew where they were. Snape liked to prey on unsuspecting first years after all, and Gryffindors were his favorite meal.

They were outside, somewhere between Hagrid's cabin and the Black Lake, and Merlin only knew where they were going to, but the sight of the Whomping Willow, its branches fighting the wind like it was an invisible enemy, was enough to make a light bulb turn on in his head and give him the idea he had been waiting for.

Of course, precautions would have to be taken… The tree was dangerous after all, as he had learned a long time ago, but it would provide the perfect occupation for them. They had looked far too bored, and Harry knew from experience that bored first years weren't a good thing.

Asking Hagrid to help him was very easy, even easier than he had expected it to be. Apparently words travelled fast, and though no one exactly said out loud what and why he was doing it, Hagrid was more than happy to help him. Turned out a cushioning spell placed on the ground and the tree would hold for a few days if properly applied, and it was exactly what he needed.

The only thing left now was to find a way to enact his plan, and get the first years – unsuspecting would be better – in place…

Harry was fortunate enough to know they were thirsting for any kind of adventure, and from his own memories, he knew they wanted nothing more than to prove themselves useful. He just had to find someone they wouldn't suspect to tell them that the Whomping Willow was just a very lonely tree, and that keeping it company for a while would be very appreciated by Professor Sprout.

Hermione would be perfect for the job, but for some reason she didn't trust him anymore on that kind of matter. Well, there was also the slight fact that she knew their Herbology teacher would never ask first years to take care of something so dangerous, and that telling her would put a sure stop to something Harry found had a great potential.

No one would suspect Luna, but Harry couldn't be sure she wouldn't try to rope the first years into trying to find Nargles hiding in mistletoe that just happened to be in a 'harmless' part of the Forbidden Forest or that she wouldn't find a way to make them subscribe to her father's newspaper. No, it was better to find someone else, and the Weasleys were out of the course, because everyone knew just how close to them Harry was.

In the end, he decided to ask Neville. He knew the wizard would find this a great idea, firstly because he was a Herbology-nerd and so would be able to actually check that no one would truly get hurt and secondly because although they were Housemates they weren't particularly close, and he wouldn't be suspected to be in league with Harry.

The plan was simple: convince the first years they should befriend the Whomping Willow. Harry had named it Operation Tiger. There was absolutely no sense as to why he had chosen that name – it had just sounded good – but that way no one would ever be able to guess what Operation Tiger entailed.

It worked a bit better than he had expected it too, though… Or perhaps the whole thing just got out of control. Perhaps leaving the operation in Neville's control hadn't been that good of an idea – he hadn't had a choice, Luna was plotting something and she couldn't be allowed to accomplish her own plan. One person trying to get the castle cheered up with pranks and awesome plans was enough – it wasn't that he was somewhat scared she might do something better than him, not at all.

The point was, the next thing he knew, a Hufflepuff first year boy he didn't know and had never seen was nursing a split lip from where he had been hit by the vicious plant, while a young witch, instead of helping her Housemate, was cooing over a small dark branch, asking it if it had been hurt. The death glare the small brown-haired girl sent the wizard when he told her that 'he was the one bleeding, so it was pretty obvious who had taken the more damage' would stay in Harry's mind for the rest of his life under the "very awesome moment".

Of course, McGonagall chose that moment to show up, and taking the scene quickly – Harry trying desperately to catch a breath, tears of laughter in his eyes, an offended boy with a split lip, a young girl nursing the Whomping Willow, and said plant waving menacingly around the boy – she made the only logical conclusion. Or as Harry would later say, she jumped to conclusions. Again.

"POTTER!"


	5. Rule 126

So hmm yeah… This story is getting totally out of control. I mean, it's becoming more and more like a multichap each time I post something, when I intended it to be just a OS collection… I created four OCs for this, and I'm absolutely in love with them, so they will come back later. And I usually hate OCs… thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapters though, and I hope you like this.

OS written for the As Strong As We Are United Competition (prompt: loss), the 52 Weeks of Writing 2013, Week 7 (prompts: yellow, sleep and cold), the 493 Things I'm Not Allowed To Do At Hogwarts Challenge (Rule 126), the HP Potions Competition (Babbling Beverage – Write a fic that is over 2.5k), the Musical Terms Challenge (Allegrezza: cheerfulness, joyfulness).

_Word count: _3663

**Rule 126. I am not allowed to declare an official Hug A Slytherin Day.**

When he would later be asked how the whole thing had begun, Ethan Hunt, first year Hufflepuff, would not be able to tell anyone what had happened, simply because the whole thing had begun by a single and wholly insignificant event – when considered alone. When taken with all the other events that little 'insignificant event' had brought, well, let's just say it wasn't insignificant anymore.

Said event had been caused by one Luna Lovegood, sixth year, Ravenclaw. And she was of course the only one who had known what would happen once she started it.

It had been very simple too, and the fact was that it was so simple it would never be traced back to her. A simple look toward a lonely first year in the Ravenclaws' common room could do much more damage than lengthy speeches, and if there was one thing Luna was skilled at, it was making Butterbeer's corks' necklace. Sorry, I meant conveying information with a look – but don't worry, the necklaces have a part in here too.

That look said 'Hi, I' see you're terribly lonely. Don't worry, I'm lonely too, but maybe we can be lonely together?'

The look Luna received meant 'Well, it depends. If you can explain to me what we are supposed to say in our essay for Snape due next Friday, then I'd like your help. Please.'

She sent a 'What is it about?', to which Alan – he was Ethan's twin but had gotten sorted in a different House because he had always loved to work – answered by 'Can't you come so I'll show you?'. Of course, Luna didn't move from her seat at the other end of the room, but the look she sent was bordering on the bewildered glare. It meant 'What if I come and can't help you? You just told me I had to be able to help to come.'

Alan understood 'You should come here, it's more comfortable.'

As it turned out, Luna was able to help him get his essay done – it was on the property of hellebore's oil, and hellebore was the favorite food of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack according to the Quibbler (number five hundred and two), so she knew plenty on the subject.

That was the first event.

The second happened the next day – a Wednesday – which was the day the first year had almost nothing to do. An hour of History to begin the day, then an hour and half of Charms, and they were free. Ravenclaws were paired with Hufflepuff for both those classes, and it meant Ethan and Alan were reunited and could sit next to each other to work.

Of course, Ethan still hadn't begun his research for his Potion essay, and he asked his brother for help. Now, somehow when he was discussing with Luna last afternoon to gather the necessary information, she had told Alan all about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. Being a Ravenclaw, the whole problem of a mystical creature being invisible and which existence remained yet unproved was to him what a plate of his mother's home-made stew was to Ronald Weasley.

It was very interesting. He promised to lend his essay to his brother only if he helped him convince their parents to get them a subscription to the Quibbler. To Alan, it was a source of information about any kind of mythical creature, and he began to daydream about being the one to discover new species. To Ethan, it would be a way to get his Potions' homework done easier.

The third event was Luna giving a necklace made with Butterbeer's corks to an over-excited House-Elf called Dobby. Dobby was charged to deliver all issues of the Quibbler ever since it had become a forbidden newspaper after the 'Umbridge Debacle' and it was a job he loved. He did it very well, and Luna usually brought him one of the necklaces she made so that he would be safer from the Nargles and Wrackspurts.

However, what Dobby didn't notice as he left to deliver the newspaper the next morning was that one of the corks separated itself from the necklace and fell to the ground. It was found by Mrs. Norris, who, while a cat charged to keep students on their toes was still a cat and so spent the day playing with the fallen cork. The poor cat never noticed how it had been dipped in a sleeping Potion and it slept through the night. That was event number four.

The fact that Mrs. Norris was asleep was what allowed a first year Slytherin to slip out of his dorms and make it to the kitchens unscathed. Her name was Alice, and in her excitement to do something forbidden – it was a dare from one of her friends, she couldn't refuse – she had forgotten to put something that signaled to which House she belonged. The fact that all her ties had suddenly needed to be washed that same day was just a coincidence. It absolutely hadn't been suggested by a young blonde-haired Ravenclaw that some first years in the snake's House needed to have their stuff thoroughly cleaned.

Alice hadn't planned to meet anyone, and so she had put her favorite sweater on. It was cold after all in Hogwarts' dungeons, and the last thing she needed was to catch another cold on her first year. It would ruin all her fun, and she'd have to ingest Mrs. Pomfrey horrible Potions, something she really wasn't looking forward to. If she could avoid it, she would, so that meant dressing a bit warmer than she usually did at her home.

Said sweater was yellow and it was the exact color of the Hufflepuff House, which was why she couldn't wear it in her dorms. It was sad, because it was surely the most comfortable sweater she owned and it had been knitted by her mother.

The fifth event was meeting Alan in the kitchen, and then to be joined by a first year Gryffindor, whose name was Amelie Swan. The fact that Ethan hadn't been able to sneak off to meet his brother had nothing to do with the fact that he had too much Potions homework to do with the information he now had received from his twin, nor with the fact that he suddenly couldn't remember why he had to sneak off and not focus on his work. And that sudden loss of memories had nothing to do with the fact that at dinner he had made the mistake to drink from a cup Luna had told Winky she needed to see in case it was infected with Acklepurt, which were as everyone know, incredibly mean creatures who liked to nest in humans body and feed off a wizard or witch's magic. It was just lucky Luna happened to have some of the only substance capable of warding them off in her dorms.

Ethan's absence also allowed the three first years to bond over hot chocolate, because without him no one was able to tell them Alice wasn't a young Hufflepuff – not that she had said so, she wasn't a liar. Alice had just been told by everyone in her House that other Houses, especially Gryffindor, would always hate her because of the color she wore. Apparently not wearing scarlet and gold was even more discriminating in that school than being a Muggleborn, and wearing green and silver while being a Half-Blood from a small family wasn't a much better place.

It was why Alice was so happy to meet Alan and Amelie, because she knew they could be friends. They even become so, and promised each other to meet again soon.

Event number 6 was Amelie realizing her new friend, Alice, was a Slytherin. Amelie was a Muggleborn, and she still hadn't understood why everyone seemed to hate her and why she was to avoid Slytherin – even the ones her age. Sure some were means, but was it right to put everyone under the same etiquette of 'Death-Eaters' or 'horrible persons' just because a few in that house were that way?

Plus this was a boarding school, so there was no way she could avoid a quarter of the school. And Alice had seemed very nice last night, and happy, while now sitting at her table with two or three of her classmates she looked a bit miserable.

It was at that moment Amelie decided she'd be friend with the small brown-haired Slytherin no matter what everyone else told them, because she looked lonely and like she could use a friend. Looking at Alan, she saw he was a bit bewildered and she sent him a look that meant 'you'd better not be thinking of abandoning her, she was so nice last night, we can't not be friends with her'.

That look, and the one Alan answered were of course intercepted by Luna, our specialist in looks' interpretation, who thought that it was very nice to see a plan come together.

By the end of breakfast it had been decided: they would meet Alice when they left the Great Hall.

The next event was Amelie hugging Alice, telling her that it didn't matter if she was a Slytherin because she was nice, and Alice returning the hug, saying she was sorry for not telling them earlier but that she had just wanted friends. This happened under the wary look of Alan, soon joined by a totally lost Ethan, who asked his brother in a whisper what exactly was happening.

"I don't know, but I think I'd rather not ask why they are both crying…"

"Yeah, I think you're right. So, hmm, what did I miss?"

While Alan was filling his brother on what had happened last night in the kitchen, a second year was asked by someone he'd swear had been a fairy to bring some green paint to an abandoned classroom as soon as possible, and preferably before midday. That second year knew exactly how to get the paint, indeed he liked to use some to draw whenever he could, and he just happened to have some he could spare. Add to that the fact that a _fairy _had asked him to get her some; well that was the eighth event.

Meanwhile, the four first years went to class. The morning was just two hours for the Slytherins and Gryffindors, and three for the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws, which meant they could all meet in the library before lunch and have two hours to spend together.

It was Amelie who came up with the idea of creating something to help integrate the Slytherins better in Hogwarts, and to show everyone else that it wasn't possible to consider a whole House bad just because a few people in it were mean or had become murderers. Alan even added his own logical argument, that it was proven that not all Dark wizards and witches hadn't come from Slytherin, and that the other Houses had even created their fair share of megalomaniacal wizards.

"But why haven't we learned that then?"

Alice's question was the one Alan had been asking himself ever since he had read his History book and a few others he had found in the school's library.

"The question's not why, it's how. And the answer to that one is easy. Have you seen our History teacher? I mean, there's no way we can learn anything with a professor like Binns, who put everyone to sleep like that. The only way to learn something is to do it by yourself; and since History's not really that much of an important subject here… Well, it just mostly gets ignored."

"You're right Ethan. We've only been there for a few months and I can't remember seeing someone staying awake for a whole lesson. I've heard from the older year that it was the same for them, and from what they said, it was the same for their parents too."

"Why do they allow a ghost to teach then, if everyone knows how rubbish he is at it?" Amelie's question went unanswered, because they didn't know what to say.

"Maybe they just don't have anyone to replace him with?"

"In the Muggle world, when one of our teachers was sick we usually had another in the next week so we wouldn't miss too much work. And our teacher are often controlled by other teachers or people whose job is to make sure teachers teach the right things so our parents can be sure what we learn is useful and up-to-date. If they're not teaching us what they should be then they get sacked. Don't wizards have something like that too?"

Two wizards and a witch looked at the muggle-raised witch with confusion.

"You mean there are adults who are making sure other adults make their job properly?"

"Yeah, of course. I mean, it makes sense anyway. How else would we be sure the children aren't being brainwashed or something? You're saying wizards don't have things like that? But that's just stupid!"

"Well I can see how that would be a good idea. We'd definitely need someone to inspect our teachers. If someone was able to sack Binns and get us a real teacher instead, I think the whole school would be in this someone's debt. Well, except for the one too lazy they'd rather have another hour of sleep."

"It's a shame we can't do anything for that though… I liked History at our Muggle school, and I really looked forward to discovering another history and how it differed from what Muggles know."

"Yeah. But maybe we could make a sort of club between ourselves, you know. Like a study group."

"That's a great idea Ethan! I love it!"

The next hour was spent planning for their newly created study group. It was quickly acknowledged that Alan knew the most about History, so that's what he would help them with, while Alice was quite good with Potions because her mother had taught her a bit about the art before she went at Hogwarts – and her mother was better at teaching it than Snape.

Ethan, being in Hufflepuff, had an easier access to the greenhouses because their House Head gave them a few more lessons at the beginning of the year to make sure they wouldn't make any mistakes during their lessons and had since them allowed them to go in the greenhouses they used for classes so they could be better prepared for their lessons. It may be because his Head of House was the Herbology teacher and was very kind to them, but Ethan liked that subject. It was actually the only one he truly loved and could spend hours working on. So he would help with Herbology.

Amelie thought she wouldn't be able to help them, because there wasn't really any subject she had been able to study before Hogwarts – for good reasons though, since she didn't even know magic was real at the time – but they soon realized that she had loved reading about the stars, and that Muggle stars and the one they studied in Astronomy were the same. She had loved gardening too, so she would help with Astronomy, at which Alan was, to his greatest disappointment, totally rubbish and work with Ethan to help with the non-magical plants.

The other subjects would be studied by everyone when they'd have to, and who knew? Maybe they'd discover themselves an ability at those subjects too.

After their little club was more or less organized, they didn't have anything to talk about. They had had to make sure they weren't making too much noise before, because the librarian was a vicious woman who couldn't stand a noise level above the whisper, and even that was sometimes too much for her.

Alan liked her, and she liked him, but for some reason she appeared to hate Amelie ever since she had made the mistake to forget a book she had borrowed and bring it back late. It wasn't like the book had been damaged or anything, and it wasn't a book a lot of people had asked after. Actually, Amelie had seen the book back to its old dusty place by the end of the day, and it had stayed there ever since.

There was a big difference between whispers and total silence though, and the fact was that it felt much better to be chatting with friends than to be just sitting there in silence, working.

"So what do you think we could do to change mentalities here? I mean with Slytherins? Because I'm sure Alice can't be the only one to be nice and in that House."

Coincidentally, Ethan was getting his homework out of his bag at that moment, and his twin's question surprised him so much that he knocked down the ink bottle Alice had been using on his piece of parchment.

The ninth event was the fact that it mysteriously spared two words: official and day, a few lines down his essay. But this had nothing to do with Luna whatsoever, because there was no way she could have scribbled a few words on a spell supposed to make sure spilled ink would spare what had been written beforehand on the paper in a book he had found at the beginning of the week. Absolutely no way.

While Alice was apologizing over and over again, trying to get him to forgive her for 'being too stupid to remember to close her ink's bottle and thus ruining his work' and he was trying to find a way to salvage what he could from his essay, Ethan's mind was busy associating the words he had just seen. There was something bugging him, an idea he could feel at the back of his mind but couldn't quite figure out.

It wasn't until he raised his head and saw Alice's distraught face – even though he had been telling her not to worry about what had happened at least a hundred times – that he remembered what had just happened that morning and that everything clicked to place in his mind.

"We could make a Hug A Slytherin Day," he suggested.

"What? Are you serious?" His brother was looking at him like he had grown another head, but the two girls were looking interested.

"It's a great idea! It would definitely show they're human just like us. Slytherin are always looking so uptight – no offense, Alice, but… It would really help I think."

Alice looked a little less enthusiastic than Amelie, but it was clear she thought the idea was a good one.

"Well, even if it doesn't really work it could be fun to at least try."

"Err, guys, don't you think it's a bit too much? Are you seriously going to try to get everyone to randomly hug a Slytherin ? But that's absolutely crazy!" Alan's protestations were ignored as the other three began to plan for a day to make it happen and how to get everyone else to participate. In the end he had no other choice but to join them in their discussion and planning.

In the end, they had to separate to go eat lunch, and then they had classes all afternoon. They had chosen a date though.

It was two nights later, the one they had decided to meet again in the kitchens, that Amelie and Alan found themselves being chased by Mrs. Norris and had no other choice but to duck in an old abandoned classroom. That was the tenth part, and the one event that gave them the last thing they needed to enact their plans. There, in that room were several pots of green paint – that second year hadn't seen the _fairy _again, but he had asked his parents to send him more of that paint so he could leave it in the room – as well as some blank banners. That room was the perfect one and it had everything they needed to organize their Hug A Slytherin Day.

The day they had chosen was a beautiful Sunday. It was sunny enough to warm them, but still cold enough that they needed to make sure they were dressed warmly. For the last few days, Ethan, Alan, Amelie and Alice had passed the words along to their classmates, or at least the ones they knew would react positively to the idea, and even to a few select people of the years above. They had gotten quite a few supporters, and they had spent the night hanging the banners they had painted – in green – all around the Great Hall and even a few they had left in the corridors, in front of all the Common Rooms.

Eating breakfast that morning was the livelier the four first years had ever seen it be, and they shared joyous looks each time they saw someone hug a Slytherin, even if most people seemed to do it as a dare at first. Seeing Draco Malfoy hugged by a Hufflepuff second year and not knowing what to do – though it was clear he wanted nothing more than to kill the one who had dared touch him – was the funniest thing they had ever seen, and it definitely was worth all the work they had put in it.

Everything quieted down when McGonagall entered the Great Hall, and though the sight of her face slowly reddening was almost as funny as the sight of Malfoy's face as he realized his dress had been touched by a 'lowly Mudblood', nobody said anything.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

While Harry was trying to explain that for once he didn't know what was happening and that he didn't have anything to do with it, he caught sight of Luna, who was discreetly leaving the room. She stopped for a second, and winked at him.


End file.
